[NLRS] CQs in the contest

[Zack Widup]

I mostly do S&P in the contests but I will call CQ on CW, usually around
1444.202 in hopes that anyone pointed in my direction who is listening on
.200 will hear me. That often works.

My QRP Portable signal is usually more copyable than my SSB signal. :-)

73, Zack W9SZ


On Sat, Jan 25, 2014 at 12:37 PM, Bill Davis <cqbilld at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>
>    I monitor 144.200 and 50.125 during all contests. I watch the 2m
> panadapter that covers 144.170-144.260 and the K3 linked panadapter that
> looks +/-20KHz of my operation frequency.
>
>   I do call CQ on occasion, but try to operate in silence as much as I can
> to reduce interference to my unreasonable neighbor. The Sept contest was
> MOST unpleasant. I try to be a "good neighbor" over a "contester".
>
>   As noted before ... heard little from Paul this contest for what ever
> reason. I heard Ron the most on 200. As others have noted.. CW and SSB. . I
> heard Ron work a "bunch" of EN34 and EN35 stations that I would not hear a
> whisper from. Ron used other frequencies during the contest, MUCH improved
> over previous contests.
>
>   I heard K9MU and K2DRH briefy on 200 on Sunday only. Heard ZQ once and
> K0SIX a couple of times, mainly on Sunday. Heard Wally W0PHD Sunday late on
> 200 CW while beamed south. Given the difficult path to Wally 164miles away,
> it is unreal how I hear him looking at MSP. Don't recall for sure, but I
> think I may have worked N0AKC on  200... too long ago already. Only heard
> Charlie twice.
>
>
>   The issue here is that all stations are weak except for W0GHZ and Ron.
> The gear is good enough that no one "wipes the band out", just the
> frequency of use.
>
>   The panadapter allows signals to be seen that can hardly be heard. I
> watch the rover frequencies "constantly" looking for them or stations
> calling them. I will call short QRZ / CQ on the rover freqs hoping to
> attract them or others monitoring for them. (If no activity has been seen
> for a while)
>
>
>   Conditions to the SE in general were down... the antenna looks 80% of
> the time toward the Chippewa valley or MSP. I watch for W0PHD, NT0V and
> VE3KRP on Sat eve, Sun AM and eve. I will always be calling CQ or a
> directed call for then on 144.200  only. In the weeds... 200 is the only
> place a station will be heard. NT0V has panadapters ... but you have to be
> watching the panadapter to see the sig. It is not very rewarding in the
> weeds MANY hrs watching,FEW "blips".
>
>   After Sept ... I thought perhaps the only hope was for individual
> stations to assume a specific posted freq of operation. For that to work ..
> LOTS of tuning is required of full time watching. Effective use of 200 is
> far simpler. I heard several call on 200 indicating freq of operation
> before QSY... then you know conditions to that station, the fact that they
> are ON and the freq of operation. It WORKS when 200 is available for
> "calls".
>
> Respectfully  Bill  K0AWU
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